We investigate the impact of 20th--century European colonization
on growth in Africa. We find that in the 1960--88 period growth has been
faster for dependencies than for colonies; for British and French
colonies than for Portuguese, Belgian and Italian ones; and for countries
with less economic penetration during the colonial period. On average,
African growth accelerates after decolonization. Proxies for colonial
heritage add explanatory power to growth regressions and make indicators
for human capital, political and ethnic instability lose significance.
Colonial variables capture the same effects of a sub--Saharan dummy and
reduce its significance when jointly included in a cross sectional
regression with 98 countries.